FDNY’s report references a “flammable liquid,” and firefighters’
photos of the scene show traces of an incendiary puddle. Another photo
captures what appears to be a singed rag that someone is holding next to
a fuse box, perhaps because that is where it was found. But a 2003
Newsday article says “the 1997 fire started when a curling iron
overheated in an adjoining beauty parlor.” NRO could find no other
sources referencing a curling iron as the cause, and the fire
department’s reports make no mention of it, either.